When Donald Trump and his allies pursued the ‘big lie’ of voter fraud and a stolen election, nothing seemed to stop them from spreading misinformation with impunity.
Politicians and activists’ pleas fell on deaf ears. TV networks and newspapers were checked in vain. Giants on social media were powerless.
But now a little-known technology company, founded in Canada 18 years ago, is afraid of conspiracy theorists. The key: sue them for defamation, possibly for billions of dollars.
“Libel laws can be a very old mechanism to deal with a new phenomenon of massive disinformation,” said Bob Shrum, a Democratic strategist. ‘We have all these fact checkers, but many people do not care. Nothing else seems to work, so maybe it will. ”
The David in this David and Goliath story is Dominion Voting Systems, an election machine company named after the 1920 Dominion Elections Act in Canada. Headquartered in Toronto and Denver, it is described as the leading provider of US election technology. It says it serves more than 40% of American voters, with customers in 28 states.
But the 2020 election puts a target on its back. When the White House slipped away and Trump desperately made baseless allegations of voter fraud, his lawyers and cheerleaders falsely claimed that Dominion had set up the polls in favor of Joe Biden.
Among the more baroque conspiracy theories was that Dominion changed voices through algorithms in his voting machines created in Venezuela to set up elections for the late dictator Hugo Chávez.
It was hilarious, but also potentially devastating to Dominion’s reputation and devastating to his business. It also fueled a cocktail of conspiracy theories that fueled Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, when Congress moved to confirm the election results. Five people were killed, including a Capitol police officer.
The company is fighting back. The court has filed $ 1.3 billion in defamatory lawsuits against Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell for refuting the allegations without evidence.
Separately, Dominion’s security director Eric Coomer started a case against the Trump campaign, Giuliani, Powell, and some conservative media figures and sales, saying he was forced to hide by death threats.
Then came the big one. Last month, Dominion filed a $ 1.6 billion defamation suit against Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, accusing him of trying to increase the onslaught by refuting the false allegations.
“The truth is important,” Dominion’s lawyers wrote in the complaint. ‘Lies have consequences. Fox sold a false story of election fraud in order to serve its own commercial purposes and seriously injure Dominion in the process. If this case does not rise to the level of defamation by a broadcaster, then do nothing. “
The case alleges that Fox’s hosts and guests ‘took a small flame and turned it into a wildfire’ by broadcasting wild allegations that Dominion systems had changed voices and the company’s repeated efforts to break the record to be set, ignored.
According to the lawsuit, ‘radioactive fraud’ spread by Fox News will cost Dominion $ 600 million over the next eight years, causing Dominion employees to be harassed and the company to lose large contracts in Georgia and Louisiana.
Fox disputes the charge vehemently. A statement said: “Fox News Media is proud of our 2020 election coverage, which is in the highest tradition of American journalism, and will vigorously defend against this unfounded lawsuit in court.”
Other conservative stores also objected. Chris Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax, said: “We think all these cases are a violation of press freedom, as it relates to media organizations. There were years of Russian collusion investigations when all the major cable networks reported unfounded claims. I think Fox reported the news and it was definitely Newsmax. ‘
But some observers say Dominion has a strong case. Norman Eisen, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said: ‘Dominion has an excellent prospect in its lawsuit against Fox for the simple reason that Fox knowingly broadcasts over and over the most outrageous and obvious lies.
‘There’s certainly protection under the first amendment and otherwise, but it’s so far out of bounds, such a clear case, that I think Fox’s looking at a very serious legal exposure here and that’s how it should be.
‘You should not have a large television channel that can provide a megaphone day after day for outrageous lies related to the election, which helped cause a violent uprising on 6 January. They should not be able to carry a steady stream of pernicious lies in the body without any legal consequences. ‘
‘A real battlefield’
Eisen, a former “ethical tsar” of the White House, suggests that the Dominion case could offer at least one model for dealing with the war against the truth.
“The United States and the world need to deal with disinformation,” he said.
“There can be no doubt that every method will be necessary, but defamation legislation certainly provides a very important means of determining consequences, and although there is no guarantee when you go to court, it is a extremely high risk for Fox with also a great price. ‘
There are signs that the legal actions, and their serious financial implications, have left reckless individuals and outlets running wild.
Powell asked a judge to throw the case against her, arguing that her allegations were protected by the right to freedom of speech. But she also offered the unusual defense that she was exaggerating to make a point and that ‘reasonable people would not accept such statements as a fact, but would only regard them as allegations awaiting the test by the courts by the resistance process’.
Two days after voice machine maker Smartmatic filed a $ 2.7 billion lawsuit in which alleged TV presenter Lou Dobbs falsely accused her of rape, Fox Business abruptly canceled Lou Dobbs’ most-watched program tonight. It also filed a motion to dismiss the Smartmatic case.
Meanwhile, pro-Trump outlets have begun using prepared indemnity or pre-recorded programs to counter the election conspiracy theories voiced by guests. When Lindell launched an attack on Dominma on Newsmax in February, co-anchor Bob Sellers tried to cut him off and then stepped off the set.
RonNell Andersen Jones, a law professor at the University of Utah, told the Washington Post: “We see the way slander has become a real battleground in the fight against disinformation.
“The threat of massive damages for spreading likely false conspiracy theories about matters of public interest may be the only instrument that has been successful in discouraging that behavior, where so many other instruments have apparently failed.”
The defamation suit will provide another test of the judiciary as a pillar of American democracy. The courts’ independence was strong with respect to dozens of lawsuits by Trump and his allies who wanted to reverse the outcome of the election.
Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota, said: “It is such an underrated light of the multiple ways of practicing politics. Sometimes we are understandably absorbed by what Congress can do, which is obviously sometimes important, but mostly fairly captivating.
‘But we’re going to see the justice system prosecute the criminals on January 6, prosecute Donald Trump and prosecute this defamation charge by Dominion over the monstrous lies told after the election.
“Thank you to the courts, because the elected branches really ruined it.”